A/N: Look, a chapter...As usual, I own nothing really. Thanks as usual to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter.
Chapter 34: A Dark Reunion
****************************Southwest Florida****************************
June 1, 2020
A small, wooden boat pushed ashore near a modest, blue and white beach house. The dark night, unlit by any moon as it was hidden behind the clouds, was apt cover for the fell deeds that were to begin here. Four dark, cloaked figures leapt from the boat, grabbing packs and a large, inlaid chest between them, and started up the beach, heading towards the house and a small, glowing emblem of a green skull that floated in the air.
The boat rowed back out to sea, slipping back to the hijacked fishing trawler that had been captured by a few Muggle sycophants of the dark forces occupying the majority of the world. A single dark-clad figure stepped from the shadow of the house and dismissed the Dark Mark. "Hurry, and get out of sight, in the house," he said without preamble. "There are Muggle clothes and food; we need to get out of this area, and moving before a patrol comes along."
"They are just Muggles," one of the Death Eaters growled as he stepped over a body lying face down on the porch, presumably one of the former owners of the house. Blood pooled under the body.
"You'll think that if they drop a platoon of their damned armor on us, or a wizard reaction force."
The Death Eater growled a response under his breath and headed in, leading the others. Their contact followed them into a house that was wrecked, furniture broken, papers strewn about. A large television was shattered in the corner, with the drawers under it, and throughout the house dumped to the floor. "I had to make it look like a robbery gone bad," the contact explained. "I have transport ready to move us, when do we strike?"
"We are to set up and wait, for the master's signal," a gruff response answered his words as the Death Eaters started to dig through paper bags full of clothes.
*********************************Hogwarts*******************************
June 3, 2020
2:20 pm
Harry Potter moved slowly around the black lake, his hands in his pockets, his head down. A pair of worn, baggy cargo pants and a loose t-shirt bearing the legend, "Something goes bump in the night...call a Gryffindor" hung on his slim frame, in contrast to the several students walking around on this warm, summer afternoon in their school uniforms.
He did not acknowledge the four operatives that trailed him at a distance, even though they moved as ghosts, without a word between them, he knew they were there. He just did not care really. The war had ground to a stalemate once more, after the taking of Scotland from Malfoy. Periodic attempts to retake the northern half of the island, with purely human forces, were easily swatted down, and the Allies did not yet have the strength to challenge Malfoy in the heart of his Kingdom, even with the base for the light so near. Europe and most of Asia, along with the northern part of Africa remained under occupation with vast X'Sheen hordes, Dementors by the thousands and Death Eaters, both marked and unmarked casting fear deep into the populace.
Harry sighed, and looked down at his feet as they moved along the trail he had traveled innumerable times before, since he was eleven and the sight of the majestic castle towering over the Black ake had first filled his vision. It was his only home now; these days really, Grimmauld was still sitting in occupied territory in London, as was Godric's Hollow in Wales.
Perhaps only four or so wizards or witches left in the world could come close to his raw power, these days, his wife and great^3-grandfather among that number, but still his hands were tied, tied as he waited for the retrieval of one more piece to the key that would lead to the counter to Malfoy's control over his dark legions. Harry kicked a small stone, causing it to bounce along the trail. He nodded to Hagrid, as his oldest friend was lecturing loudly to a more or less attentive class of fourth years about how cute and cuddly Grindylows were. Harry just shook his head and moved on, remembering those same Grindylows and a desperate swim.
Harry glanced back as a large black dog padded up silently next to him, and butted Harry's hand with his head. Harry's face gained a small, half-smile as he stopped in a secluded inlet along the lakeshore and sat down on a large, flat rock, pulling his knees up to his chest, and resting his chin on his knees. He glanced over, moving just his eyes, as Sirius SHIFTED and sat next to him on the rock. "What am I doing, Padfoot?" Harry muttered, but more than loud enough for the Animagus to hear, "I didn't want this, I killed Voldemort...well, Mione and I did with a lot of help, I just wanted to live in peace, watch my kids go off to Hogwarts, maybe play a touch of Quidditch every Saturday, and love my wife. Why the hell can't I have that, don't I deserve it?"
Sirius shrugged and pulled a silver flask from his pocket and took a draught. He offered it to Harry, who refused with a gesture, "Yes, lad, you do deserve that, not this, no one deserves this...except maybe Lucius. But if you don't, who will?"
Harry took a breath, and scrubbed at his face, "I'm tired of sending them to die, Sirius...Do you know how many friends, family members I've seen die in this war...I've been fighting this same fucking fight since I was a year old, and what has it got me...
"A wife, four children, now, and friends that would give anything for you," Sirius replied, snorting softly and taking another drink. He looked out as the squid pushed up the surface, moving lazily before slipping back under the low waves.
"Speaking of that," Harry replied, looking back, "Why aren't you with yours?"
"Cordy kicked me out, James was napping...something about me being too...loud or something."
"I'd never believe that," Harry laughed, then shrugged, "he still wanting blood in with his milk?"
"Nah, he gets that from Cordy." Sirius explained, "does make it hard to get babysitters though."
"I would imagine." Harry smiled; then let the expression fade, he looked over at Sirius and frowned slightly as yet another of those decisions that he wished not to make, flashed to the forefront of his mind. "How would you and Cordelia like to get away from your sprog for a while, Hermione and I will be glad to watch him."
Sirius looked at Harry for a long, evaluating moment, "Where?"
"Paris...we think that Charlie might still be alive."
Sirius looked down at his flask, at the engraving that read, "To my best man, don't drink it all at once, Padfoot." "Cordy and I would go of course, but why not send Ron or Ginny or one of the other Weasleys?" Sirius replied quietly, as Harry already knew he would.
"I don't want them to get their hopes up," Harry replied and took a breath as he took off his glasses and ran long fingers through inky hair, "And...the rumor is...he was turned, Sirius. That's why I want to send Cordelia." Sirius closed his eyes, nodding, and stood from the rock.
"We'll be ready to go in the morning, Harry." Sirius reached over and patted Harry's shoulder, and started up the path towards the castle to tell his wife that they were on a mission.
"Sirius."
"Yeah."
"If he's one of the feral ones...one of the ones that lost their souls when they were changed..." Harry broke off; he opened his mouth again; to force himself to give an order he did not want to give.
"I understand, Harry," Sirius replied, his voice flat, but curiously gentle all the same, as he saved Harry from the words. Sirius started towards the castle, his grey eyes slightly downcast. He changed in mid-stride, morphing to a large, hairy black dog and padded off, leaving Harry with his thoughts.
******************************Paris**************************************
June 6, 2020
1:15 am
Down a dark, cluttered street, strewn with the wreckage of cars, a couple of bodies tossed to the side like yesterday's empty coffee cups--and other signs of the occupation, of the utter desolation of modern society after the Death Eaters and their thralls had swept across Europe like a dark plague--two people, moved with a purposeful stalk. The pair, both cloaked in black, like most of the others that moved openly through the city these days, moved towards a rare spill of light and noise into the streets.
For the most part, the once-great City of Lights, Paris, was also shattered, broken, much like the cities across the channel. Muggles scurried from cover to cover, scavenging what they could, those that had not escaped into the countryside that was. A few city dwellers tried to scrape an existence out, cut off from fuel, and electricity and other once necessary staples of a twenty-first century life. But, for the most part, the city was almost abandoned, leaving behind only the refuse, animals and the desperate...and those who prayed on them.
Death Eaters did not travel much in the city, it being mostly useless to them, with no real infrastructure to support them, or victims to prey on. The French Ministry had fallen only days after the British one, the first to do so in a domino effect that spanned continents. Into the city, the dark ones had come, establishing themselves as the dominant force controlling the city, werewolf packs spawned by Death Eaters, hags, succubi, all of those walked the streets openly now, preying on those Muggles they could catch and on each other when they could.
All of those were enough, but in Paris, it was the vampires that controlled the streets after dark. No French Auror patrolled, no slayers moved in the shadows, to control their more base impulses, and especially not the treat of an open feud with the Gryffindor/Potter/Black line that kept the bloodsuckers more or less in line in occupied London.
The pair crossed the street towards a small, oak door set down several wet, crumpling steps from the street. The smaller of the two, coming up only to the chest of her tall companion, lowered the hood of her cloak and shook out a fall of blonde hair. Violet eyes dilated, and suddenly an odd rune glowed faintly above the door they were approaching. She frowned slightly, looking down at the pair standing at the door, one on each side. The one to the left, a brunette girl, wearing what appeared to be a Beauxbatons' uniform, the top at least two sizes two small and a skirt that Madame Maxime would have never allowed, pushed off from the wall as they approached, and climbed the stairs, tossing away a marijuana cigarette as she moved. She stopped at the top of the stairs and rested her hands lightly on her hips as her mouth opened slightly, exposing ivory fangs.
"Don't, Love," the blonde whispered to her black-haired companion, holding out a hand as he started forward. She looked up and back at him, giving him a quick smile before she moved forward, her boots making absolutely no sound on the cobblestone street. "I have business inside, move aside."
The brunette Vampire smirked, showing her fangs more, "I doubt it," she looked up at the black-haired man, he smiled slowly and opened his cloak, a wand and a short, curved sword rode his hips. "And that is supposed to scare me?"
"You're young," Cordelia replied with a throwing away gesture, and waved around the area, "You don't know any better..."
The brunette took a step, a cat-like hiss slipping from her throat, and leapt...A silver blade flashed and the vampire vanished in a flare of fire and a cloud of ash as a silver blade whipped through the air. Her partner leapt from his post, towards Cordelia, and erupted into flames in mid-air. A wooden stake clattered to the ground and Sirius sighed, stepping forward and picking it up. It vanished as he slipped it inside his cloak.
"I thought we were being discrete," he said with a faint, half-smile.
His wife glared at him, before re-sheathing a slim sword on her hip. Cordelia just shook her head and started down the stairs to the club, knowing he was following her. She pulled the door open and stepped into a dim, smoky corridor, lit with a source-less red lighting. Cordelia glanced back before heading down it, towards ear-shattering music, blaring from somewhere ahead.
The door closed behind her as she reached the end of the corridor, taking a step out of it, into a sight that would not have been out of place before the war, any one of a thousand clubs that dotted Europe. And that is exactly what this place had been, before, when young Parisians partied the night away, blissfully unaware, except for those unfortunate enough to end up as a snack for silent partners in the club. A soft snarl came from Cordelia's lips as her fangs dropped fully and her eyes lit.
Her heartbeat, normally a mere ten beats a minute, when she was excited that is, skyrocketed to an almost human sixty, as the scent of blood, both old and new filled her nose. She slowly walked through the scattered, dimly lit tables skirting the dance floor where young, looking anyway, vampires gyrated together to loud Muggle music. She looked over, at a young male vampire; he had a maybe, seventeen-year-old girl in his lap and her throat in his teeth. Her eyes were glazed over with hormone-induced euphoria, as her blood trickled down her neck, and under the low-cut shirt she had on.
Cordelia moved on, her violet eyes glowing now as she moved with the preternatural stillness of a trueblood, her steps utterly precise as she dodged patrons of the club, moving towards the back of the room, where she could see two tall, black-clad vampires, standing guard over a corner table. They were armed with Muggle weapons, current US issue pulse rifles in fact, and her eyebrow crooked. She glanced back toward Sirius, and he nodded, before holding out his hand.
She smiled faintly, and shrugged out of her cloak before handing it off to Sirius. Conversation and a few feedings in the immediate area stopped as she straightened her swordbelt hanging on slender hips that were covered in black leather today. She reached up, unzipping her top slightly, letting the zipper hang open halfway down her chest, before straightening her weapons belt. She smirked slightly and leaned up, pulling Sirius' head down to hers. He growled faintly as her fangs nipped his lip just lightly enough to draw blood, before she pulled back a few inches, licking her lips. "Got my back?"
"Always," Sirius muttered, as he hung her cloak over his left arm, and slipped his right, holding his wand under it, under the cover of her body.
"Good, you'll get a Scooby Snack for that later," she replied with a faint grin, which vanished as she spun on her heel, pacing towards the two guards. As she approached, Sirius following at a more sedate, watchful pace, the two came to a quasi-attention, but she ignored them, focusing beyond their bulk to the five people beyond at the corner booth.
Or rather, her attention immediately focused on the two males sitting at the booth, the three females, she disregarded, mostly, the pair that should have been in Beauxbatons or their Muggle equivalents, a almost identical, scantily dressed pair of blondes, hung off a red-headed man, who had his head down in his drink. She shot a glance back at Sirius, who nodded, before she perfunctorily checked out the pair of black-haired vampires, sitting next to the red-head, the girl was curled up in her master's lap, letting him slowly lap at a small gash in her neck. She shuddered, and her breath caught, before he set her aside in the seat beside him, and she pulled up into a cat-like ball.
"Go away," the guard on the right, whose only distinguishing characteristics from his partner, was a steel nose ring, and a broken right fang as he opened his mouth.
"I have business with your boss," Cordelia said and stepped forward, only to be cut off as the pair stepped together, blocking her path. Behind her the music changed, becoming even louder, and the left guard reached for her...
Cordelia MOVED, sliding right, and twirling, a silver blade came free of its sheath, it flicked upward. A flare of fire lit the room behind her as her blade neatly separated the head of the second bodyguard, and his body flared, crumpling to a neat pile of ash at her feet. The club went silent for a long moment, the music stopping suddenly and every eye looking to them. Cordelia smirked slightly as she re-sheathed her blade and stalked to the table.
Sirius leaned casually against a beam supporting the floors above, as his wife grabbed a chair from a nearby table, set it on the open arc of the corner booth and sat down. She stretched her legs out, crossing them at the ankle. She glanced at the redhead, who still had not looked up, then over at the dark-haired, older vampire. He sat back in his seat, bringing a white napkin up to his lips to wipe them clean. "What do you want, O'Connor?" he snarled, looking briefly at the twin piles of ash that had been his former bodyguards.
"It's Black, now," she said darkly, "We came for him." She nodded in the direction of the other male vampire, whose 'dining companions' were nuzzling his neck, purring softly as they started to climb into his lap.
"Aw, yes," Wulfric Cannos murmured smirking, as he set his napkin on the table in front of him. He let his hand trail down to his consort's bare belly, trailing his fingers along the pale lines of her stomach, and letting them run up lightly to stroke along a breast. "I had forgotten that you...married, your pet, Cordelia...what would your father have thought?"
"He would have probably come with us, to kick your arse," Cordelia spat, and her eyes lit, hammering into his own and keeping him in his seat without moving a muscle. "I came for him, you can keep the slags."
Wulfric looked around the room quickly, as if expecting a dragon to come out of the empty bottles scattered about. He reached forward, and picked up a tumbler full of a glowing green liquor. He slammed it back, "I am a Master Vampire, child; over two hundred years old; I walked the streets of this city when the Muggles rioted for bread, when they cut the head off their own king. You are what, thirty, forty, you aren't even their best fighter...No, I will not give him to you, he amuses me, we have a bet, you see, on how long he lasts before the hunger truly takes him." He looked up towards a table set on a low balcony where a female vampire was coupling violently with a thrall, his blood dripped down her chin as she moved on him. Wulfic looked back at Cordelia, "No, I know you can feel it, taste it in the air, I know you want it...the hunt, the chase...the kill...and even if I did not have money riding on it, he was entrusted to me by the Dark Lord's Fang..."
Cordelia took a breath, and watched her opponent as he glanced down, then up at her, her eyes glittered with lethal promise, "Let me be perfectly clear, Wulfric, I was sent here to recover a family member. " She looked over at the man with long, red hair that fell forward covering his face, "I will kill Prichart, I will spread her guts along the ground and stake her undead arse out on the top of a mountain, before I sit with a fine wine, perhaps a nice '05 Rothschild, and wait for the sun to roast her soulless body. You should feel lucky actually, that I don't think that you were with Voldemort that night..."
"I have a hundred vampires here, you wouldn't last five minutes..."
Cordy looked up and back as Sirius moved to the table, he had set aside her cloak on an empty table and doffed his own. He leaned on the table, his wand still in his right hand, "If... your supposed hundred minions did manage to kill us, you, your kin, and any spawn would not survive the week...this club, your lairs, your accounts, your every endeavor will be destroyed, and the ground they once stood on salted. An hour, after you managed to kill us, you will wish God and his Angels were the ones angry at you, they might give you mercy."
"I am not afraid of Potter, why isn't he here, if he cares so much," Cannos sneered, but he did it very quietly, and both Sirius and Cordelia sniggered.
"Then you are stupid," Cordelia said flatly, "Harry had a Quidditch game to watch; his kids were playing."
"Charlie," Sirius said and for the first time, the redhead looked up. Despite herself, Cordelia let out a soft gasp, as dim blue eyes looked up at hers, she reached for him, and the room exploded into fire.
The chatter of a half dozen subguns roared across the room as enforcers attacked. The bullets whined off into the ceiling as Sirius quickly shielded them both. Wulfric roared and dove over the table, a long sword coming into his hand as he struck at Cordy. She flipped up and back out of her chair, hitting the ground rolling and bounding up, almost hitting the twenty-foot ceiling, before she landed. A long, bastard sword crashed into hers, she batted it away and snapped her blade at Wulfric's, batting him backwards through a table. She bounded forward in a lighting thrust and missed as he twisted, only barely managing to catch his riposte a breath later before it ripped out her guts.
A dark half-smile lit her face as Sirius glanced up, stood and with seemingly no concern for the bullets tracing towards him, tracked his wand to the bar. A flick and dozens of liquor bottles shot across, crashing into the attackers. A jab and a fireball shot across, igniting all six in pillars of fire. Dark screams filled the air as he spun back to Cordelia, she took a breath, and stood with her sword held back and low.
She reached forward, and motioned with her free hand, "Let's end this." A roar and Wulfric charged, his sword already moving. Cordelia vanished, leaving behind a faint afterimage of her form as she took a single step to the side, and snapped her sword sideways. Wulfric crumpled, his body shriveling even as he fell way.
Cordelia stepped over the body, knowing that Sirius had her back and stepped to the table. Her she reached for Charlie, who was looking at her with wide eyes. She reached with her left hand, and in a timeless moment, she realized her mistake.
A spot of blood from a long, shallow cut on her arm dripped onto the white linen, Charlie's nostrils flared and he leapt, fangs fully extended and reaching for her. Cordelia's fist crashed across his jaw and he crumpled, falling to the floor. "Let's go, Padfoot," she yelled over her shoulder. He dove for her, grabbing her shoulder as she touched a small, black ball and the three of them vanished in a rush of wind and a fall of color.
***********************Hogwarts****************************
4:25 am
Harry strode, yawning, into the Hospital Wing, a section of the castle now living up to it's name, with the various wards now taking up four floors of the Wing, with two others dedicated to Potions labs, shielded instrumentation and other medical devices, magical and mundane, all to attempt to replace the long lost St. Mungo's. Poppy Pomfrey now looked over a staff of healers and nurses, with patients ranging from the month old daughter of Fred and Angelina, to a hundred-year-old Muggle that one of the teams had brought back with chest pains.
He nodded to a pair of guards in armored suits outside of a secluded ward; they braced to attention and relaxed as he entered, no doubt chatting to each other on their private line. Harry turned back towards the door as it closed behind him and waved a hand, instantly a bright white flash lit the walls as privacy wards established themselves.
In the room, a small, white-washed interior room with no windows, and only a couple of portraits to provide color, a single bed sat against the back wall. Small, glowing runes lined the top of the walls, and in an inset semi-circle around the bed. An IV bag filled with blood fed the occupant of the bed, who was currently both unconscious and restrained. He paused, taking a breath as he took in the lank, crimson hair, surrounding a pale face.
"So," Harry said, coming over to stand next to the other three already present in the room, Hermione, who looked about as tired as he felt, Poppy Pomfrey, who had refused to pass this case off to one of her junior healers and Cordelia. Cordelia frowned at him, and shrugged, pacing over to the bed and stopping just outside of the runes. They probably wouldn't effect her, being a pureblood, probably anyway, but she was not taking a chance.
"I don't know, Harry," she said, her voice burring his name as exhaustion, more mental than physical fought for dominance. She took a breath, glancing back at Harry as Hermione slid in next to him, and leaned against his side. "You know the difference, in my kind right? Between the purebloods, the turned soulless ones, and the ones that are turned, and still more or less sane?" None of the others said a word and she turned back to the bed and watched as Charlie lay perfectly still, "Purebloods, like me, and James, it breeds true, usually, have all of the classic powers, the real ones anyway, not all of the bullocks that Bram Stoker made up for the Muggles, none of us turn to smoke, for example. We can enchant almost any Muggle or Wizard, have them walk right off a cliff or right into our fangs...The Imperius was an attempt to copy our powers, frankly."
"The thing is, purebloods, which is an old, poor choice, it should be living or trueborn, or something, we aren't dead...Yeah my heart beats a lot slower than normal, but it beats, my skin is warm to the touch, and though I won't shrivel or explode into flames if you take my head, or drive a stake through my heart, I'll die. We have a soul...and most of us...expect to answer for our...sins, one way or the other, no matter what they might believe in. I'll take a Death Eater, suck them dry, I'll use my fangs instead of a wand or a sword, or whatever, but the innocents...they are off limits. To a point I guess." Cordelia frowned and pulled on the tight tail that her hair was in as she took in their slightly concerned faces. "Feeding is one thing, I can take just what I need and leave my...victim alive with at most a bit of a lightheaded feeling...but truly Feeding, sucking them dry..." She glanced back at Hermione; "You know the possible cost of using the Kedavra, especially on an innocent, right?"
Hermione nodded slowly, "Yeah, it can fracture your soul...especially when used against a Wizard, and even more so an innocent..."
"It's the same, really...evil begets evil and what goes around, comes around, that's what saves us, saves me, will save my son. There isn't a karmic toll, with them as prey...they are evil, hell most of their souls are already damned, it doesn't take much to send them on their way." Cordelia wrapped her arms around herself, as if she were freezing in the warm castle, "That's why most of the living vamps, go out of their way to keep from being in situations where the hormones take over and the hunger is unstoppable. But when they are changed, it's different."
"How is it different, child?" Poppy asked, curious despite herself.
Cordelia shrugged and took a breath, and with a visible effort of will, strode through the runes. She let out a breath when nothing happened, and looked down at Charlie, before pushing damp, with sweat, hair off of his brow. She looked back at them, "The fact that I can walk through that barrier, proves I am still on the side of the angels. When a vampire bites a human, pureblood or changed, they inject a retrovirus/neuroinhibitor, that in small doses, such as a bite, cause euphoria, and in the case where a vamp drains a target totally, can actually inject enough of the retrovirus to modify their DNA to start them along the path the truebloods are already on. I can eat normal food, and I do, I need the same vitamins and minerals, protein, everything else you do, but I still need blood, animal will do...for a short time, to provide certain elements that I can't get otherwise. But even I need at least some human blood, to keep me sane. When they are changed, however, they can't...their only sustenance, is from blood... In the magical world, we take it as granted that blood is life, its, very, very true, all of their powers, their strength, everything is based on blood. Some of the older, turned ones used to bathe in it."
"So you are saying, there's a chance he already has destroyed his own soul," Hermione said in a horror-tinged voice, "Harry and I knew, but..."
"Harry was right, Hermione, when he sent me, there were a lot of ferals there, ones who have gone and taken without regard to anything, just let the hunger, for everything that is, blood, sex, power, whatever. All of the bullocks Stoker said we all craved."
Hermione frowned, and moved across the circle of runes to stand on the opposite side of the bed. She bit her lip, as she checked something, before looking up at Cordelia, "What about Sirius, I've seen you bite him loads of times..."
Cordelia smirked slightly, the tips of her fangs gleaming in the light from the torches. "Sirius is my, mate, he was before, even before I left and came back, it's a evolutionary adaptation, to allow us to procreate with unchanged humans...he is immune to the virus, courtesy of another that gets injected during...coitus, with a bondmate. If I absolutely had to, I could take several liters from him, without effecting him untowardly, other than he'd be even more randy than he already is...and he'd really crave a large, bloody steak, or two."
Harry coughed softly behind them, "All of this is interesting, ladies, and you should probably give a few lectures to the DADA classes, Cordy, as the books are very vague on vampires, but it doesn't answer the question of what to do with Charlie. I will take him out myself if he's feral, I won't risk him around my kids, or any of the others."
Cordelia clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, and shrugged, "We won't really know until he wakes...but he won't hurt any of them, Harry. I'll take his head myself before that happens."
***************************London********************************
June 10, 2020
2:20 am
Shadows moved in the dark, trash-strewn London streets, around the former palace of the Royals. Death Eater patrols moved constantly, sweeping the edge of the fenced grounds, which stood perfect, restored to and beyond their pre-war glory, for the pleasure of the occupiers, while a kilometer away from the walls, Muggles fought for scraps amidst the ruins of the ancient city.
One of the shadows stopped, directly across from the main gates of the castle, where a platoon of Death Eaters, paced back and forth watching into the darkness from under the bright lights casting the area immediately around the walls into nearly daylight brightness, and everything else into to nearly stygian pools.
What do you think, Harry? Hermione whispered, as several of the Death Eaters talked to each other lowly. Do you think we can get in quietly?
Harry shrugged invisibly, Probably, but getting out with the package? Quietly anyway? Doubt it. He looked to his left, towards the dark shadow where he knew that Ron waited silently. I suppose you could do the 'scarlet woman' routine again.
Hermione looked in his direction, and rolled her eyes. Is that because you think it will work...or you want to see me and another random female agent dressed in almost nothing, parading around on the street to distract the guards.
Harry laughed silently; Can I get back to you on that? He leered invisibly, Maybe later tonight? Hermione laughed in the back of his mind. "Alright," Harry whispered, his voice coming in clearly over the ears of the two dozen or so scattered around him on the streets, in the alleys and hidden on the rooftops within line of sight. "Last time we were here, we left a message, tonight, since its recipient didn't seem to listen, I suppose that we will have to follow up."
"Code black entrance, ladies, gentlemen and Padfoot," Hermione added, already knowing Harry's decision, she paused looking towards where Harry was standing, reading his expression without seeing it. "Go."
Hermione's whispered words over the wireless set off a flurry of silent, invisible activity. A pair of soft POPs sounded in the night, along with a pair of faint, luminescent traces and the pair of guards closest to the gate collapsed. Three more turned to their fallen comrades only to be grabbed by steel-like hands from the shadows and pulled from sight.
Four, faintly-visible outlines rose from behind a pair of shattered cars about a hundred meters from the gates and a group of ten Death Eaters jerked and staggered as if being pummeled by a hail of invisible stones, before they collapsed. The remaining six Death Eaters looked around fearfully, gathering into a small group. One of them darted for the guard shack and an alarm crystal, and tumbled to the ground as a jet of silver snapped out of the night.
A soft whistle sounded out of the darkness, and the remaining five Death Eaters looked to their right, and several assorted curses ripped out, crashing into the crumbled facade of a ruined building across the street. The darkness twisted and swirled, collecting into the shape of a single, slim form. A pair of wands rose gracefully, and bucked, a flurry of silver darts ripping out and sending the remaining Death Eaters crashing down into a steaming pile of robes on the ground.
Instantly, several more came from out of nowhere, troops in the mottled grey and black digital urban camouflage of the allied forces raced across the open ground, grabbing the fallen Death Eaters and surrounding them. The bodies vanished in quick bursts of light, courtesy of the Wizards among the newcomers, and the rest moved to the sides, taking positions to cover the entrance from either direction.
Harry appeared next to the still-closed gates and looked up at a five-meter high wall, set with broken glass and warded with at least four different variants of anti-Apparation and Portkey wards. Hermione slipped up, standing next to him and sliding a pair of wands back into their sheaths, So...now what? Harry, blow a hole in the walls?
Ye of little faith, Harry muttered, and she gave him a faint smile, and he shrugged. Her eyes cut to the gates, and he nodded, she made a small waggling motion with her hand and stepped to them, just as several more black-clad figures faded into view. "Tonks, Ron, Luna, Cordy, Padfoot, you're with me, Remus...I trust that you can stay here it dissuade any pursuit?"
Remus nodded, bent to kiss Tonks on the top of her hooded head and slipped into the deep shadows next to the guardhouse where a pair of operatives where standing, their dark clothes looking from a distance, at least to be Death Eaters. The few named moved quickly to the gates, and Harry looked at each, frowning.
He spun to the closed gates, feeling the shimmering magical reinforcements darting along his senses. Harry cocked his head slightly, shared a long, but quick, silent conversation with Hermione, the contents of an entire Grimoire flitting between them at the speed of her thoughts, before his hand darted to his thigh, his wand came up and pointed at the exact center of the gate.
A cloud of sparkling particles rushed from his wand, tiny fireworks exploding silently as each particle hit the wards on the gate, sending a curtain of light spinning faster and faster, growing and growing, until with a silent snap of purple light, the ward vanished. Still more particles rushed onward, hit the gate, and with a sizzling sound, as if a huge pale of acid had been tossed on them, a perfectly round, ten-foot hole melted in the bars. "After you," Harry said softly, pointing at Cordelia.
She snorted quietly and drew her sword, inverting it to lie back along the length of her arm and padded onto the grounds on cat-like feet. The rest filed through the slightly glowing hole, vanishing in faint, brief shimmers as they moved down a hundred-meter gravel path towards a side entrance to the castle.
After a few steps, Hermione whistled softly, and the group froze, waiting as she flicked an invisible wand and a shimmering gold fog oozed out, covering the grounds, and casting into sharp relief previously invisible Intrusion Wards, their pale green beams scattered here and there, seemingly at random.
Harry nodded towards Cordelia and she flitted from clear zone to clear zone, leaping, and diving over the beams, nimbly dodging their sight. She sprinted forward, flipped over a large statue of Malfoy and landed nimbly on the very top of a rock from which all of the wards seemed to be emanating from.
She crouched down, reaching into her pouch and pulling free a long, phosphorescent blue glass ampoule and set it down
at her feet almost gingerly. She transferred her sword to her left hand and drew her wand and touched the phial.
Instantly the glass faded away, and with a boiling cloud of sharp smoke, the rock melted away, even as she flipped
away.
The anchor stone for the garden wards vanished and the wards faded, a bare millisecond before she dropped back to the
ground, faced towards Harry and the rest, bowing at the waist.
Sirius gave her a polite, silent clap as Ron muttered something about, "Damn showboating Vampires." Hermione grinned slightly, white teeth glinting in the dim light spilling from the castle, before she took a breath and started off, vanishing from sight as she sprinted towards the castle. Harry flickered into motion after her, Cordelia already gone towards a secluded entrance that had once allowed staff to enter without disturbing the affairs going on in the main entrance.
She flicked her wand at the door and shook her head as she found a simple intrusion ward that would not have Flummoxed an average Hogwarts fifth year, let along the group coming up behind her, any of whom could have bypassed this when they were twelve. She sheathed her sword and ran her wand along the edge of the door, she was about to cast a spell, when with a rush, the wards abruptly died, and the door opened.
A Death Eater stepped out, the lit coal of a cigarette already dangling between his lips. He looked over to his right, blindly into the darkness, missing the briefest flicker of motion as Cordelia stepped up behind him. He started to spin, clawing desperately for a weapon as a faint, cat-like hiss came from near his ear. Small steel hands twisted in his hair, snapping his head to the side, as needle-sharp fangs descended.
Cordelia swallowed heavily, as her eyes slipped half-closed, as a thin stream of blood trickled down her chin. The Death Eater slumped in her arms and she picked him up one handed and tossed him in the bushes. Harry just nodded as he passed Cordelia and slipped inside a wand in each hand. Hermione followed on his heels, slipping in and stepping to the other side. Sirius paused next to his wife and motioned towards her mouth, she blushed slightly and turned away, wiping at her chin.
Beyond, Harry slipped silently through a darkened kitchen, and crouched at the corner of a doorway, through which the sound of several low voices could be heard. Emerald eyes glittered darkly as he heard one particularly rough voice bemoaning the loss of "Mudblood talent" when Umbridge's school had been destroyed. He felt Hermione at his shoulder and she tapped it. Harry looked back to find Tonks looking at him, crouched next to a large, stainless steel preparation table.
He nodded and she stood, took a breath, and SHIFTED, her hair changing from black to a dusky blonde, and lengthening slightly, as she gained mass, filling out and gaining several inches, her face filling out and faint blonde stubble sprouting on her cheeks. She dropped her head and looked up, to look at him with the face and body of the Death Eater Cordelia had eaten. She concentrated again and her clothes transformed to the dark robes that he had had on. "Go," Harry mouthed and she slipped into the hallway.
Four Death Eaters looked up at her approach, "Oi, Grandle, forgot your fags?" a tall woman with dark reddish-brown hair called snarkishly. She was leaning against a door at the other end of the wide hallway, with a crumpled bundle of cloth at her feet. Tonks barely restrained a gasp, as the bundle moved slightly and the face of a youngish woman was revealed. She looked up at Tonks tiredly and sat up, her slightly shaking fingers automatically working at the catch of her threadbare robes.
The other three Death Eaters, who were all crowded around a small table with cards and a pile of Galleons spread out on it laughed. Tonks grinned slightly as she moved towards the woman and the alarm crystal she could see mounted on the wall at head height near the door. "No," Tonks said lightly as she continued to walk down the hall. She passed the table and shrugged to the men there, "I decided that I need a touch more of a break than that..." she leered at the girl, and the rest laughed again, a dark and hungry sound that sent shivers up her spine, especially as her traitorous brain insisted on putting a slightly older version of Abby's face on the girl.
Tonks slipped up to stand over the girl, who started to shakily rise, and felt the female Death Eater step up behind her. A flicker of motion out of the corner of her eye and Tonks spun, flicking her wrist, and catching a silver blade and driving upward, driving the Dagger up into the Death Eater's brain.
"WHAT THE..." One of the card players shouted, and all three started to rise, sending cards and Galleons flying, when a web of silent silver beams snapped out and they crumpled, blood oozing slowly from several holes. Tonks shifted back, her face rapidly becoming heart shaped and her hair darkening to her 'natural' coloring. The girl whimpered and crawled backwards as the rest of the team appeared behind Tonks. She reached for the girl only to watch as she shuddered and looked away.
The girl's eyes went blank suddenly as Cordelia approached and knelt before her. The girl slipped forward, curling against Cordelia like a cat, and a brief, pained look flitted across slightly-glowing, violet eyes. "I enchanted her, Harry," Cordelia whispered with a touch of pain. Sirius and Ron finished vanishing the bodies and looked over as Hermione and Luna both lowered their hoods and knelt down next to Cordelia.
Hermione looked over at a closet set in the wall, and reached out, touching the girl's cheek, "What's your name, honey?" she murmured. The girl, looked back at Hermione blankly, and shook her head, causing a veil of dirty blonde hair badly in need of a combing in front of her face. "It's alright," Hermione went on, as the girl burrowed back into Cordelia's arms, still under the Vampire's spell, "none of us will hurt you." She's a witch, Harry, Hermione said almost unnecessarily, and he nodded, the practice was typical of the Death Eaters here in the former capital.
"T...Teresa..." the young girl, who on closer inspection was fifteen or sixteen, said tentatively, as if the word was half-forgotten, lost to her through disuse.
"Teresa, honey..." Hermione whispered as the boys slipped to the door to the rest of the castle, "I need you to be brave for me, I need you to hide in that closet and wait for us." The girl shook her head and clutched to Cordelia tightly, her eyes now cleared of her enrapturement, but still holding onto the slight woman as if she were a lifeline, an oddly appropriate commentary on the times, really.
"We'll be back," Cordelia murmured softly, and if there was a trace of compulsion under her words, so much the better, "You can go hide in that closet," she reached up behind her back and pulled a small silver dagger, and slowly placed it in the girl's hands, anyone but one of us comes for you, you can stick them, ok?" A darkly glittering look came over the girl for a moment, and she nodded, letting Cordelia lead her to the broom closet and settling in on a set of pillows that the vampire conjured for her. Hermione flicked her wand and a softly glowing ball of light hovered near the top of the closet and Teresa settled back in the furthest corner.
They slowly closed the closet, and Hermione flicked her wand, locking it with one of her spells, no Death Eater was going to open that closet. "Let's go," Harry muttered and the rest nodded.
In the year since Harry's last visit to the castle, security had been doubled, redoubled...and promptly had faded back to its pre-infiltration state, basically because none of the Death Eaters cared, not a one would give their lives for their masters. Especially not the one lying snoring on his stomach, his amply apportioned room totally redone since Harry's redecoration.
A totally-new antique bed held the former Minster of Magic, and Lucius Malfoy's current 'Prime Minister'. Harry shook his head as he faded into existence and muttered a word; oil lamps flickered to life, revealing a scene that only further annoyed him. Fudge's pajamas, a red silk set, were nearly invisible under the nude bodies of a pair of 'companions' his arms wrapped tightly around them. Harry looked to each side and nodded to Sirius and Ron, and the pair slipped forward and in unison, slipped their hands over the women's mouths.
Both woke instantly, but when they saw the black-clad heptet in the room, they instantly stopped any struggle and let themselves be pried gently away. They huddled together in the corner, arms around each other, and remained silent without a word from any of the invaders. Harry grinned faintly as Sirius SHIFTED and a large, shaggy black dog took his place. Padfoot bounded up on the bed and poked Fudge with his nose.
"WHA..." Fudge blinked awake and sat bolt upright, suddenly realizing that he was alone in his bed as Sirius leapt off the bed, transforming in mid-air to his human form. He walked over to Cordelia, and stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her and resting his head on her chin as she half-unzipped her shadow suit and fanned herself with it, her eyes glowing faintly and her fangs dropped below her lip. Fudge instantly recognized Sirius, and his mouth trembled as he looked around the room, finding the rest, his company for the night in their corner, and the rest spread out around his bed. Slowly, he looked to the foot of his bed, where Harry and Hermione were copying Sirius and Cordelia, though Harry wasn't quite tall enough to rest his chin on the crown of her head as long as they both were standing fully upright. "P...Potter."
"Hello, Cornelius..." Harry said pleasantly, "I believe that you know everyone," he paused as Hermione reached into a pouch riding behind her hip and tossed a set off Auror issue, magic-disrupting cuffs on the bed next to him, "you're coming for a bit of a Holiday."
***************************Hogwarts********************************
June 10, 2020
2:00 pm
Horatio glanced over at the redhead walking next to him, and smiled faintly as she pulled slightly ahead, as he saw, again, the flashing green patch in the back of her hair. "She's going to kill you, you know," his sister whispered as she passed with Xander and Elliot and Caitlin, as they thronged towards Hagrid's now somewhat expanded hut and their class for the day. The prevalence of rogue magical creatures without the Ministry's control had pushed the class to younger students.
Horatio just shrugged, and continued on, following Harriet, even as he debated murmuring the counter-jinx. He let her take another few steps, and with a slight shake of his head, he canceled the spell. Emilia crooked one eyebrow, but did not say a word as the first year Gryffindors came to a stop outside of the hut, looking worriedly at a large, covered cage that Hagrid had waiting for them.
""Ather round, 'ather round," Hagrid called, pulling in the mixed crowd of students to him. A large, covered cage dominated a cleared area next to Hagrid's pumpkin patch, never a good sign, really and several of the students gathered closer together. Safety often truly was in numbers after all. He laughed heartily and whipped off the covering to reveal a mother Kneazle with nine tiny kittens. A palatable sense of relief spread through the class as they watched Hagrid open the cage, and with incredibly gentle hands remove a jet black kitten. "T'day we will be looking into Kneazles...Who can tell me about them?"
Emilia's hand immediately shot up, and Hagrid nodded to her, "Kneazles are cat-like creatures, known for their loyalty and their ability to discern the intentions of others. They historically have been associated with witches often as Familiars, and are particularly prized for their ability to act as a focusing and grounding agent for large spell workings."
Hagrid grinned at her and bent down, handing her the kitten, watching as she held it to her chest, "Ten points to Gryffindor," he said happily and watched for a moment as the kitten wormed its way into Emilia's robes. "These kittens have just been weaned and we are needing homes for them...I think that I have just found a home for one," he added as Emilia absently petted the feline.
The rest of the class moved in quickly, especially the girls as Emilia walked over to a tree and sat down, holding the kitten to her chest tightly, but not tight enough to actually hurt it. The cat did not seem to mind, as it looked up at her with green eyes a shade darker than her own. I hope Mum doesn't mind...she thought desperately, as she stroked the kitten's head with two fingers and it slipped off to sleep, purring quietly.
She looked up, and gasped as Caitlin sat down next to her, her eyes wide as she held another kitten, this one grey and black stripped in a tiger-like pattern. It looked around at Emilia with dark blue eyes. It held her gaze for a moment, then purred, turning and nestling against Caitlin.
Hagrid let them talk amongst themselves for about thirty minutes, the class at this level more of a familiarization course than anything before he cleared his throat loudly and Em, Xander, Caitlin, Harriet and Horatio looked up from under the tree were the girls had gone to sit, Horatio was playing with a bit of loose string, dangling it in front of the black kitten. It scampered back under Emilia's robes, crawling up between her skirt and outer robe to crawl up on top of her lap and look out at the half-giant, "'At's it fer, t'day," Hagrid boomed, "I wanna see two pages on common Familiars for next week, now git."
******************Potters' Private Quarters, Hogwarts*************************
Hermione slipped into the room, yawning, and stretching slightly before she unzipped her shadow suit, which she had not taken the time to change from since they got back about an hour ago, towing several, new, rescued orphans and a very uncooperative Cornelius Fudge. She slipped out of the tight outfit; the close fit an arithmetic necessity for the formation of the cloaking field, and tossed it at a hamper set to one side of the room. She padded along the hallway to her bedroom clad only in a pair of knickers, and rummaged around until she found a long t-shirt of her husbands and donned it.
She walked back into the living room and collapsed on the couch, letting the shirt ride up to her hips as she nuzzled against a throw pillow and closed her eyes, dropping off to a shallow sleep almost instantly. A few minutes later, Crookshanks entered the room through a magical cat-door set in the main entrance and looked around. Finding his mistress, he leapt up on the couch and lay down next to her. He tolerated it, a moment later, as she wrapped her arms around him in her sleep and pulled his body to her chest.
He looked up and met Harry's eyes as Harry entered the room, and walked over to the couch. He bent down, and gently brushed aside her hair to kiss her cheek. "Join me," Hermione muttered sleepily, turning her head to look up at him blearily. Harry kissed her again, more properly this time and nodded, she smiled closing her eyes and drifting back off, as he padded off towards the bedroom.
A couple of minutes later, Harry emerged, clad in a pair of sweatpants and a slightly tattered t-shirt, bearing the legend "Seekers do it in the air". Crookshanks gave him a glare, but slipped out of Hermione's arms as Harry slid down onto the couch, pinning Hermione between him and the back of it. She slowly, half-asleep, wiggled until she was lying on top of him, letting him lay on his back on the couch, and tucked her head under his, and let her legs tangle with his.
Hermione nuzzled at his neck, languidly, and looked upward, moving just her eyes, "Wanna shag?" she asked quietly, sighing as she felt Harry's hands push up under the back of her shirt to run along her spine.
"Yeah," Harry replied. His hands slipped down and pushed at her knickers, sliding them down and off, as she reached down and pulled on his sweats until they were below his bum. She groaned softly, as she felt him against her belly, and reached down, moving just enough to guide him home. Her eyes slipped closed with the sensation and she let her head fall to his neck, bonelessly.
Soft, quiet sounds came from her almost instantly and Harry raised his head just enough to see that she had fallen asleep. He laughed quietly and reached up to the back of the couch, grabbing a throw and pulling it over them. His arms tightened around her as she slept, he kissed the top corner of her forehead, and closed his own eyes, "G'night, love."
A/N: And there you go, the shortest shag scene I've ever written :)...next time a very, very long trip.